Luis Diaz: Major military search begins in Colombia after kidnapping of Liverpool star’s father

A major military and police operation is underway in Colombia to search for the father of Liverpool forward Luis Diaz after he was kidnapped with his wife near the country’s border with Venezuela.

Luis Manuel Diaz and Cilenis Marulanda were stopped in their car at a petrol station and kidnapped by gunmen on motorbikes in the northern city of Barrancas on Saturday, but Diaz’s mother Marulanda was then rescued by police at night.

Police director William Salamanca said he told Diaz on the phone that he would be deploying all of his available resources to find the footballer’s father, who remains with the kidnappers.

Diaz, 26, was left out of Liverpool’s squad for their Premier League match against Nottingham Forest on Sunday, with manager Jurgen Klopp dedicating the club’s 3-0 win to the Colombia international.

Colombia’s interior minister has deployed more than 100 troops to the mountainous area in the north of the country while word has also been sent to Venezuelan authorities to reinforce their border patrols.

The army also said in a statement that they would be setting up roadblocks, deploying motorised platoons, and using helicopters and planes to search the area from above.

Colombia’s attorney general Francisco Barbosa on Sunday said it was possible that Diaz’s father was being taken to Venezuela, and ordered an investigation into the motives of the kidnapping and to find those responsible.

“We have information that he could, at some point, be in Venezuela. If he ends up crossing the border and he’s in Venezuela, we have to ask [Colombian] President Gustavo Petro ... to help us with freeing Luis Diaz’s father,” Barbosa told reporters.

Colombia’s national police also announced a reward of $48,500 (£40,000) for any information leading to the hostage’s rescue.

Liverpool forward Diogo Jota celebrated their opening goal at Anfield by holding a replica of Diaz’s No 7 shirt up to the crowd.

“The game preparation was the most difficult I’ve ever had in my life. I didn’t expect that, I wasn’t prepared for it,” manager Klopp said. “I don’t want to make the game bigger than it was, but definitely, we tried to help Luis with the fight we put in because obviously we want to help and we cannot really help.

“So the only thing we can do is fight for him and that’s what the boys did.

“How can you make a football game really important on a day like this? It’s really difficult. I’ve never struggled with that in my life.

“We heard late last night about it. We spoke to Luis, he wanted to go home… Then we got the news with his mum, which is fantastic, and since then nothing really. We are obviously not the first people to get involved and we try to have knowledge of everything as much as we can, but we don’t want to disturb in any way the important people there, we just want to support, that’s it.”

Liverpool said in a statement it is the club’s “fervent hope that the matter is resolved safely and at the earliest possible opportunity”.

“In the meantime, the player’s welfare will continue to be our immediate priority,” it added.

Includes reporting from AP